AZB, as we both know as electrical engineers, most of the failures come from faulty connections. Power supplies are also common culprits.

I agree that there is risk in importing anything. The one TV I could not fix was purchased in the DR.

I still do it when I get a door to door shipping quote and it makes sense versus buying locally. Which is almost all the time.

I was in favor of buying TV online and then have it shipped in via BM cargo or EPS, but since my last venture, I am not so sure anymore. My TV was damaged just after 2 weeks of use. I was lucky to get it fixed with a slap in the backside of TV but if the defect was more complicated then I would have had to take it back to USA to get it exchanged or get a refund. This has to be done within 3 months of purchase if it's bought from walmart. You lose your shipping cost to DR (example: 2900 pesos for a 32 inch tv) and now you have to take this Tv back in the plane as a checked bag because in order to return the TV, you need the original box. many airlines only allow one checked in bag so there it goes. Then you have to bring another tv back from usa and again check it in as a 1 piece luggage in order to keep the original box, in case you find another defective tv. Remember, these less than $200 dollars TVs are not exactly made with NASA space technology, they are cheap TVs that you would expect to buy on black fridays. So I would imagine there is a high risk of getting a bad Tv than if you buy a quality TV model.
I saw a good deal, 47 thousand for a smart 55 inch samsung 4k TV and I just bought it. I am so glad I waited this long to buy a 4K tv. the prices are low and the TVs come with quad core processors. this makes tv open up smart apps with a snap. the TV as a whole is very snappy and comes with very good, useful features. the web browser is also very fast and shows almost everything. I watch my RT news regularly on it.
I even made my own ghetto TV mount which cost me almost nothing and works better than the ones which they sell here. this could be a whole new topic. anyone wants to hang their Tv to the wall, give me a message and I will show you my trick. My ghetto inventions are just as effective as the bought items, if not better.
AZB

AZB, as we both know as electrical engineers, most of the failures come from faulty connections. Power supplies are also common culprits.

[/B]

I agree. the most common culprits are faulty connectors and power supplies. Now we have another culprit, the cheaply made Grade B screens. They are made for cheap chinese TVs and other brands that you see are sold with arcane names in DR. they are all made in china and they will put any label on them as long as you buy a huge quantity from them. this way you can start your own label in this country. These TVs have very cheap screens and made from very inferior components. the connectors may fault easily with heat over time. these TV only come with 3 months guarantee in DR or maximum 1 year. some times only service and no parts. which means, you pay for parts. there is generally 3 days even-exchange policy on most TVs in plaza lama. after that, you need to have it serviced from an authorized dealer. I have seen side by side comparison of TV like technomaster, tech, TCL and other local brands. they all seem to have the same quality resolution. this leads me to believe, they all use the same components and are probably made in same factories. many even look alike.
So I stay away from these brands as I have no faith in them. if they go bad, good luck in finding parts and motherboard on ebay.
AZB

you can certainly bring in TVs on delta in their original box. 32 inch TV can be checked in as luggage. the bigger Tvs that come in bigger boxes that exceed the allowed dimensions (I think 65 inches total=Length+ width + height = total allowable) can be checked in for an additional 75 dollars. the rest, like 55 inch TV boxes will have to be checked in as cargo.
It is not cost effective to bring in a 55 inch TV or bigger from usa. the chances of it getting damaged in the transit is very high. then in addition to shipping cost in the airline, you would be subjected to around 48% tax / custom upon arrival in DR. No warranty will be served in DR.
Now my 55 inch Tv set me back 47 thousand pesos with 1 year warranty on parts and labor. I am very happy with the purchase. The picture quality is unmatched by any 1080p tv I have ever seen. now the latest models come with 64 bit quad core processors which help open up apps in TV with a snap. The whole Tv experience is very snappy and i feel like I am using a fast laptop. The browser is good and works as designed. I am able to see rt news on full screen. I was even able to watch a pay per view event on the browser www.zonadeporteshd.tv. they have all the latest UFC and latest boxing ppv fights for free.
so I didn't have to connect my laptop via HDMI cable, the TV is almost a computer and the browser helps me see whatever I used to see with laptop connected via HDMI cable.
Now the USB port is also a very good way of seeing movies on usb drive. My USB 3.0 drive was able to play a full 4k video smoothly. I was able to see 1080p videos, up-scaled to almost 4K like resolution without any hiccups. the video player is great and even plays the MKV video file format. The resolution was great and almost seemed as if the movie was being played in 4K. The samsung video player gives you the option to choose audio tracks (example: if the movie has english and spanish audio tracks). The video player also lets you choose subtitles embedded in the video file. I mean, what else anyone can ask for? My previous sony 46 inch 1080P HD Tv didn't do any of that. slow as turtle, the browser was so slow that I considered it useless for viewing anything. netflix would take forever to open up. no MKV files played on the video player and no choice to pick audio or subtitle tracks. Even some regular video formats had trouble playing smoothly. In comparison, the new samsung 4k smart TV is light years ahead of the TV made just a few years ago.

Just brought in a cheap 24" TV that I got at Costco for $100 on JetBlue as a carry on. I didn't have any issues, but I may have just missed the deadline by a couple of days.

Carry on, you say. I was talking about checked baggage. I don't think a 24 inch tv would fit in the carry on? Given their restrictions on size. But, maybe you are on to something. I was trying to bring the 32-inch which definitely will not fit in the carry on.

Carry on, you say. I was talking about checked baggage. I don't think a 24 inch tv would fit in the carry on? Given their restrictions on size. But, maybe you are on to something. I was trying to bring the 32-inch which definitely will not fit in the carry on.

I didn't put it inside my carryon, I carried it on.... The 24" TV box wasn't too big so I just got on the plane with it and my backpack. The box is flat, so other items (like my backpack) can sit on top of it in the overhead. I would imagine that you could do it with a slightly larger TV.